Football: John Carroll, Okeechobee prepared for spring finales

FORT PIERCE — Most area high schools wrapped up their spring football season with a game last week, but two local teams stretched out their permitted 20 days a little longer.

John Carroll Catholic heads to Melbourne to face Holy Trinity in a spring game at 7 p.m. Friday, while Okeechobee will hold a Purple & Gold Game intrasquad scrimmage following a freshman practice set to begin at 6 p.m. at the high school.

The rest of the teams on the Treasure Coast played last week.

“We’re excited to play another opponent,” John Carroll coach Mike Watkins said. Hopefully we’ll see continued improvement from what we have done all spring and we can keep building on that.”

The two teams played last spring in Fort Pierce, a 14-0 win for John Carroll in which the defense stole the show.

This time, the defense might be tested a little more. The Rams are without two of their cornerbacks because of injury and Watkins said Holy Trinity has some talented skill players returning who weren’t there last spring.

“They lost some linemen but they’ve got some good skill guys they didn’t have in the spring last year that moved in during the summer, so we’re looking for a competitive well-coached team,” Watkins said.

“They are young in some areas, trying to piece things together, but I’m not 100 percent sure what we’ll see from their offensive and defensive lines.”

Watkins said he looks forward to seeing how his new offensive line holds up after graduating three starters, but he also wants to see how well his defense tackles.

“We just want to finish our spring right,” Watkins said.

Okeechobee was looking forward to a spring game this year after playing intrasquad scrimmages the past few years. However, Glades Day canceled before the spring began.

“We were disappointed to not have a spring game, but we basically turned the spring into a camp,” Okeechobee coach Chris Branham said. “We’ve been able to focus on fundamentals and we’ll have some fun with the Purple & Gold Game.”